Prior to Turbo
by Omgbrookyhehe
Summary: When Turbo informs Felix of his plans to game jump, Felix has a tough time coping. Pairing: TurboFelix


Ducks flew overhead, the silent twinkling of stars being their only company; side for the deep purple sky. It was always night in Fix-it Felix Jr. The programming didn't call for any specifics, the programmers had no clue their very codes lived. It was a blatant mystery. Felix didn't mind though. He walked over to his window, glancing out at the huge player screen.  
The arcade was dim, game screens brightening the enviroment with their repetitive themes. He sat on the edge of the balcony just outside the door beside the window, gloved hands curling around the bars. Jiminy, he thought, resting his forehead on a closer bar. Where could Turbo be? They had a date planned in Frogger tonight, but he hadn't showed quite yet. He could be lagging around with the Twins. They teased each other more than enough for that to be the issue, but...  
Felix stood, eyes squinting at the player screen. But... that wasn't it. Was it? Something had to be up, he just knew it. Turbo wasn't one with a reputation to be late. He practically raced everywhere he went, it was in his nature. It was in his code. He felt a sick worry stir in his stomach as he turned, heading back inside his lit little apartment room. He snatched his hammer off his bedside table just to slip it through the hammer loop on his belt, jogging towards the door. Outside the penthouse, he hopped into one of the few train cars that led to Game Central Station. He couldn't get that worry out of his mind, it was difficult. Everyone thought Felix had an intuition to these sorts of things, and it was kinda true. Like the time Ralph got stuck in the washroom of Tappers minutes before the arcade opened, and Felix had the plan to check there. Or when he had asked Mary if she had any issues with baking the pies; and turns out, she did. It was only a coding gift, and he was guessing now was a time it was acting up.  
The little repairman went into the outlet reading TurboTime, his blue eyes weary and focused. He ended up in the large, wide open game that was always lit by sunlight; opposed to his own dusk game. Felix was surprised by the emptiness. There wasn't even one of the twins in sight. His eyes made their way to look on to the strange little house up atop a background hill, which was out of sight from the player screen. The fix-it sighed and murmured something to himself, his fingertips brushing against the surface of his hammer.  
"Code have mercy, Turbo..." He muttered a second, hopping down the little hill. He didn't excuse his words, since there was no one around within the distance that could hear them. The handyman caught himself from slipping in an oil slick, his gloved hands splaying out. "Close call!" The worker breathed, adjusting his workshirt by smoothing it out. He'd always believed TurboTime to be a dangerous game. And his beliefs were put to their highest peak as he looked around. He didn't much come around in here, things didn't appeal him. Turbo and him normally conversed over a Root Beer in Tappers. Or they'd head over to good ol' Fix-it Felix Jr to lay under the stars. Today however, was due a trip to Frogger. If the racer had even shown up. Felix regained his train of thought with a huff. Now where was I... He thought, eyes locking to the house. Oh!  
The shortly man made the rest of the way up the grassy hillside. After reaching the house, he rapped a gloved fist against the wooden door. And waited. There was no response. He rubbed the back of his neck and blinked quizzically. Turbo was surely coming to answer it, right? There was a passing minute, and he concluded: he wasn't. Felix's worry got worse, and he knocked again. No answer. Two minutes later, he knocked once more. After the same conclusion and no change, the handyman threw his arms up in defeat, and turned to leave with a deep cut frown. And then he heard the door creak open.  
"Felix?" It was one of the twin's voices. Felix jumped, turning to face him. His gaze lilted up. Size differences.  
He smiled politely up at the blue suited racer, trying to keep the worry off his face. He wasn't sure if it was working, he couldn't read the twin's expression.  
"Hello," His voice paused, and he studied the twin to see which one he was. "Booster..." The racer gave a snort, in which he caught himself and grit his teeth in embarrassment. "Nitro!" He seemed to accept the addressing that time around, and Felix relaxed. "Is Turbo here? We kinda had a date tonight, and he was a no show..." His voice trailed off. "Nitro! Get your loser bumper back up here, my plans are more important than your dumb guest!" Turbo's voice poisoned the nicer atmosphere, and the twin grimaced, glaring up the staircase. "It's Felix! Gee, you blow off dates with your number one?! That's kinda low! Even for you!" There was a short, panicked pause, before Turbo came running down the stairs, almost tripping over himself. "Oh code..." He awkwardly mumbled under his breath, biting his lip. "Fix-it, I... Our date! Fuuuck!" His hands shot up to cover his eyes in self-loathing. "I swear I didn't forget about our date! But-..." Turbo grabbed Felix's hand and pulled him inside. The repairman's face contorted into confusion as Turbo leaned closer, a hand cupping against the side of his mouth as he whispered: "I have a plan that's gonna make me popular again..." Felix's feelings about trouble were correct. He winced.  
"A plan? Jeepers, Turbo, what are you planning?" Turbo shut the door, back pressed against it. His wide yellow eyes flickered up at Nitro, who sighed, shoving his hands into his jumpsuit pockets. "Turbo here thinks it's a good idea to game jump!" The voice he used was chock full of accusation. Turbo scowled up at him and bunched his fists, jabbing a finger to the taller's chest. "It's the only way we're not gonna be second-bested by those player snatchers!" He turned to Felix and grabbed him by the shoulders, desperation in his eyes; an emotion not normally seen in his expression. "You're on my side, right?!"  
The fix-it frowned and opened his mouth to speak. When nothing he could manage to respond with came out, he hung his head and nudged the floor with the toe of his workboot. "Gee, game jumping? That's insanity..." His voice lowered, he cleared his throat. Turbo blinked at him in disbelief. The nerve! He jolted back to look at the previous twin, hunching his shoulders. "Don't think you can stop me! Neither of you can! We're headed to being unplugged anyways and it's all RoadBlaster's fault! With their dumb better graphics... Hmmph..." With a harumph, Turbo began stomping back up the stairs, leaving Nitro to pinch the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Felix stood silently, and shuffled in his spot. "What's gotten into him? Those racers is all that made him like this?" The handyman gawked, jaw aslack. Nitro shrugged a loose shrug and groaned. "He's been like this for days, I don't think he's even slept... When did you guys plan that date of yours?" He paused to think.  
"...Maybe last week? The day before RoadBlasters hauled in?" He guessed, entwining his fingers. Nitro nodded, eyebrows raising as if a whole new perspective came into view. He finally got what he meant. Turbo had been losing his sanity... and sleep. Which is why he had been so tangled up in these plans since the day the new cabinet came in. "Now I know why he forgot we had somethin' planned..." The twin patted him on the back with a quirk of a smile to ease his nerves. "Don't worry about him, he's bluffing. He isn't gonna game jump, he loves this game too much to do that. Maybe you should try again tomorrow and I'll get him to rest tonight so you two can hit it off better." Felix had no reason to decline this offer, and agreed. He took his leave after saying his goodbyes, and offed his hat, hearing the door close behind him as he walked away. "I hope Turbo comes to his senses..." He sighed, fingertips turning white clamping the hat brim between them.  
He turned his gaze down to the ground, and made his way back to his game. Maybe a bit of partying with the Nicelanders would ease his senses. After an hour of their company, Felix had turned in for the night. He needed sleep, since tomorrow would be the day he actually talked with Turbo alone about the plan he mentioned. The repairman fell victim to sleep, one thought flooding his thoughts.  
I really hope he doesn't game-jump...

"Mary, do you need any help today?" Felix asked the shorter, plump little Nicelander as she carefully set a tray of pies into the oven, smiling curtly. "Oh, no, Felix. Thank you for offering..." She stood straight to brush her clothing off, looking over the countertop filled with lactose-free pies. She had enough to fufill the power-ups for one day of gaming. The oven dinged, and Felix held up a hand before she could move a finger.  
"Don't worry about it. I've got it!" He offered a friendly smile, and opened the oven, taking out the tray. It was a game, so the pies didnt take long to cook. His gloves shielded his hands from being burned. He set the tray of pies on the counter next to the rest, and nodded once. "There."  
She gestured to the door, picking up a set of cooler pies. "You better get going, don't you have something planned with Turbo?" He paused, and rubbed the back of his neck, shoulders rising and falling as he shrugged. "Well. Yes. But he's been goin' on about some real weird things..."  
Mary glanced up at him. "Oh?" Felix swallowed nervously, playing with his left glove. "Yeah... It's just got me thinkin... real hard." He cocked a hip and let his arms cross over his chest. "How could he be so selfish?" The smaller Nicelander patted one of his hands, handing him a cherry pie. "Here, take this and calm down. No need to get worked up over something that may be nothing!" Mary let him take the warm pie into his hands, his eyebrows quirking. "Gee, thanks, Mary... You're right! I'm sure it's nothing. I'm gettin' all razzle frazzled over nothing!" He looked towards the door, and turned towards it. "I guess I'll get going. I do need to go see him." The handyman's voice sounded more like himself now. Not so much as worried sick anymore. Mary smiled and waved him off, going back to tend to more baking.  
He took his leave, and headed up to his own room. He decided he was going to wait a little bit before going to see the racer, though, he had barely gotten much sleep the night before because of the information he had been told. The thought of Turbo; someone he knew and loved, putting himself and the inhabitants of an innocent game in danger, stressed him out. And that wasn't a normal emotion Felix experianced. The handyman cut himself a slice of pie, putting the rest away for now. He ate enough of these by default each day. He leaned up against the counter, absentmindedly beginning to eat it. There was the sound of a window sliding open, and he stopped short, peeking around the corner. He found it was Turbo, who had let himself in using the strangest way possible. He blinked and stepped into view.  
"Turbo? What on land's name are you doing?" Before Felix could utter another word, Turbo had bolted up to him, nearly tackling him down to the floor. He tightly wrapped his arms around the fix-it, and Felix felt something wet drip onto his neck. "...Turbo?" His voice softened. He pulled him off to look at him, and Turbo sniffled, his fists clenching in and out. He looked like an absolute wreck. A wreck who hadn't gotten sleep in multitudes of days. The purple bags under his eyes had darkened and got worse, and his eyes weren't the most lively. Tears ran wet lines down his pale cheeks, and they were still actively flowing. Felix wiped them away with his thumbs, frowning in pity.  
Jeepers.  
"What happened? I don't think I've ever seen you like this..." Turbo's eyes suddenly became mad looking, and he frowned too, clenching his teeth. "I'm gonna do it... I'm gonna game jump and you can't stop me, Fix-it..." He looked at the ground, his shoulders quivering. He huffed angrily and shook his head, more tears falling. "You can't." The sleep-deprived racer squirmed a bit with a low whine. He was worse than Felix had first thought. He promptly wiped the new tears away.  
"What makes you think you're gonna get unplugged? Shoot, there can be more than one racing game, can't there?"  
"NO!" The sudden yell made Felix jump, "There can only be one! And that's me! Turbo! The greatest racer ever!" He hissed, glaring in his own defense. "I refuse," He growled "-to be thrown out like trash! If I go down, they're comin' with me..." His voice was full of malice. It was a tone that wasn't regularly used around Felix, since, there was never a need to. Felix could tell he was really upset, and it was affecting him just the same. "You can't do that though!" Felix was starting to panic. "You're gonna leave everyone behind? What about the twins?" Turbo's gaze whipped up at him. "What about the twins? They don't matter! Hell, I'd de-code them if it was acceptable... And as for everyone else?" His eyes locked with his, and the handyman found himself unable to look away. "You're the only one who can stand me... That's why I came here to say goodbye..." Felix's face fell, and he found it difficult to bite back the tears that were welling at the corners of his eyes. "Oh..." He hugged him, and felt the racer wearily hug back. "Why can't you see this is a bad idea? Don't do it... You'll be leavin' me behind... And the gamers-"  
"I haven't gotten played since RoadBlasters came in... Litwak's been eyeing my cabinet, he's bound to unplug me anyways. Then those hotshots 'll get all the glory while I rot. That's no fair..." Turbo mumbled something else, that Felix couldn't quite make out. The diminutive male pulled back from the hug, and meshed his lips with Felix's. It didn't occur to Felix that this was their last kiss, or else he would've made it last. He felt something warm run down his own cheeks, and when the kiss ended, he found himself crying as well. "Turbo... Please." Turbo stared at him, his expression turning blank. Then he shook his head, entwining his fingers with Felix's. "Just because I'm taking them down doesn't mean I'll be gone completely." Something sparked in his eyes almost like he had a plan involved. That gave Felix hope, but with Turbo's current state of mind, he wasn't so sure whether to be glad or unsure. The racer was clearly unstable, and that plan might detour as much as his mind. Part of the repairman wanted Turbo to apologize for not staying, but he knew he wasn't sorry. He knew he really didn't care who missed him when he left. All he wanted was to be adored by the gamers, and if he couldn't have that, someone had to pay. Felix gulped, squeezing Turbo's hands. After a few minutes of silence, Turbo let him go, taking a step back. "I'm not game jumping tonight, so don't look at me like that..." He murmured, turning back to the window. The racer put a foot up on the windowsill, and glanced back at him. "I'm doing this for my own good. RoadBlasters is gonna pay." Turbo paused and frowned, unsure of himself. "I love you, Fix-it." He then hopped out the window, making his way back down to the ground. Felix walked to the window and watched him slip away to the train carts, before finally breaking on his own accord. Something was going to go wrong, he could feel it. There was a knot in his stomach that made him sigh nervously. The good-guy sat down on his bed and buried his face in his hands, a headache throbbing at his temples. Something was going to happen to Turbo, and he couldn't tell what it was.

Felix had to tell somebody. Hours had gone by since the occurance with Turbo, and before he knew it, it was almost opening time. But he had to talk to someone. Felix could keep a secret, but with this information engraved into his memory, and with a half hour till opening, he couldn't take it. Turbo was presumably going to try and unplug RoadBlasters today. And again, information like that wasn't unguiltily kempt by the repairman.  
He paced his room, placing a shaking hand on his hammer; the only memory in his code that was linked with his father. Hesitantly, the handyman drew his hammer up with the signature ding!  
"Oh... What am I suppose to do..." He looked down at the hammer, at its reflective surface. He could faintly see a blurry image of his face, a frown curving his mouth down. "I can't just let this go. The arcade's in danger! I'm suppose to defend it... I'm the hero of my game." Felix groaned and threw his arms up, hammer held tight. "But I can't bring myself to rat Turbo out! Ohh, Turbo..." He wrapped his arms around himself and looked to the ground. There was a knock at his door, and Mary's voice muffled through, informing him that it was time to get into position. Felix gathered his voice into a regularly chipper one, replying with: "Alrighty! I'll be right down!" He slipped the hammer right back into his belt loop, coming downstairs in the matter of a minute. Felix concealed himself in his place offscreen, hearing Litwak let kids into the arcade. It took about three minutes for a brunette boy to stumble over Fix-it Felix Jr, pushing a quarter into the coin slot. The game started up, and Ralph came into view, raising his fists, and in an angry voice, bellowed: "I'm gonna wreck it!", proceeding to bust out multitudes of windows, and throwing Gene off screen. Felix glanced at him from his own spot, seeing the Nicelander land safely. He finally came into view, giving as convincing a smile as he could; as if the player could see any more than a few pixels. If he could, it would have given away the nervousness he so clearly felt. "I can fix it!" Felix reassured himself and raised his hammer high, allowing himself to be controlled by the gamer.  
Hours crawled by, worrying Felix to a point. Each time he was elevated enough to see RoadBlasters, he'd take his chance to watch it from the corner of his eye as he worked. Two familiar teenage boys that were practically dedicated to the arcade were now at RoadBlasters, and Felix felt fear twist his nerves. He nearly tripped over a windowsill, but the gamer barely noticed, dodging bricks and capturing the power-ups. Felix kept watch, trying to focus on his game at the same time.  
Oh...  
Felix was caught off guard.  
Turbo had bolted across the RoadBlasters screen, throwing forward a thumbs up and a signature "Turbo-tastic!" His grin was attention hungry, and the players blinked in confusion, one of them staring back at TurboTime. "Turbo?" The boy questioned, startled as Turbo once again drove across the screen, causing him to crash. "What's Turbo doing in this game?" The racecar wobbled back on track, but not in time for the rogue racer to drive across again and collide with the playable character. "Aw! C'mon!" The boy cried out, groaning as the screen broke out in a flurry of pixels and glitches. Felix watched in horror, getting hit by the bricks Ralph threw down; costing him his first life. The wrecker seemed distracted by the scene as well, and the boy at Fix-it Felix Jr wasn't even paying attention any more.  
No...  
"Mister Litwak!" Felix got off track again, losing his second life. Mr Litwak was a step ahead of the gamers, sticking an orange Out of Order paper over the screen. He dispensed a few quarters to refund the players with, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked to TurboTime. He inserted a quarter to test the game. Turbo had been in RoadBlasters, and the two games weren't even from the same manufacturer. And sure enough, when the game began, Turbo was nowhere in sight. Just the two NPC twins, who were obviously trying to keep their cool at the starting line.  
"Huh..." The arcade owner stared sadly at the screen, and stepped away with his hands on his hips. "I guess ol' Turbo is due to be unplugged... Same with RoadBlasters..." He frowned, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. TurboTime was his career starter, and he was sad to see him go. Felix saw Litwak approach the plugs, leaning down to pull them, and the handyman had to hold back everything to keep from protesting through his game. As the TurboTime and RoadBlasters screens turned black, so did his vision once another set of bricks hit him, causing him to spin, falling flat on the windowsill. His last life blinked and disappeared, and he found himself regenerated down offside the screen. Oh my land... He covered his mouth to keep from making noise as he began to sob, turning away from the penthouse. It was closing time anyways. As soon as no one was watching, the repairman sprinted across the screen, and into the traincart nearest him. Turbo had actually done it. He hadn't doubted him exactly, but he didn't expect it to be like this. He didn't know what he had expected. But it wasn't this. And the hurt that coupled and added to the incident made his heart ache. The train pulled into the tunnel, and Felix couldn't have run out of his outlet quicker.  
There was a crowd gathered around the RoadBlasters plug. Or what used to be, at least. "Did Turbo make it out?!" He asked the crowd, and when none of them answered, he began quivering. "Someone please tell me Turbo made it out!" His voice quieted when a few glares were shot towards him. Everyone was most likely on RoadBlasters side. Turbo was the one responsible for the death of two games and their inhabitants.  
And himself.  
Felix heard slurs of 'What a selfish man...', 'I can't believe how disgustingly heartless he is...', and worst of all: 'Turbo was the only one involved who deserved to die.' And that was all it took for Felix's mind to race. He stepped back a few steps, feeling dizzy. He could have prevented this if he had only tried... But he hadn't, and that's that. Why did he have to be such a good guy and keep the information to himself, he had ruined everything for the arcade, and the characters.  
When he turned back to race into his plug, he could've sworn he saw a red and white blur dart into the shadows. He stared in somewhat hope, and felt that sense that something had happened.  
Maybe Turbo wasn't so dead after all. 


End file.
